Largely thanks to Joe Maganiello’s The Crypt of Perpetual Darkness Quest Pack expansion, HeroQuest has taken up much of my free time over the last week and a half. Unlike other HeroQuest expansions, The Crypt of Perpetual Darkness doesn’t introduce a new class or map for players to use. Instead, it relies on the original one given in the First Light box and tells an original story set in its own location, which ties into the tabletop’s overall narrative.
HeroQuest Joe Manganiello’s The Crypt of Perpetual Darkness Quest Pack
Developers: Avalon Hill
Price: $34.99
MonsterVine was supplied with a review box
One of the things that I enjoyed most about The Crypt of Perpetual Darkness is the quest that the expansion is built around. Until a few weeks ago, I didn’t know much about HeroQuest. That said, I was able to easily jump into the expansion and quickly understand the story and mechanics. That’s mainly because it’s treated as a one-off story, and I mean that in the best way possible. The Crypt of Perpetual Darkness follows many of the high fantasy tropes that tabletop players have come to expect, such as an adventure starting in a tavern only to be thrust into action by horrific events unfolding around it.
During my time with The Crypt of Perpetual Darkness, I took the role of Zargon, who acts as the GM (Game Master) while my players took the role of the heroes. This was great because it allowed me to play multiple aspects simultaneously, such as deciding what reward would be in certain rooms and how certain monsters would behave in combat. Something worth mentioning is that each fight felt extremely balanced; there were only a handful of times when I needed to make adjustments to ensure I wouldn’t kill all my players in a meaningless fight.
While looking through the expansion box, one thing that stood out was the art and foil cards that came with it. From a pure aesthetic standpoint, The Crypt of Perpetual Darkness feels like a collector’s set. You don’t have to look too hard to see it either; just take the Quest Book, for example. On the first page of the starting quest, we’re given a nice picture of a rat eating cheese, and this stands out because the base game doesn’t have any art in the Quest Book. It also includes a nice set of black dice that stand out next to the base game’s white dice counterpart.
But the real eye-catcher is the box’s cards. Each one is a full-art foil that feels like it should be a game of its own. Rewarding players with cards really helps sell the overall story, too, because of how different they look compared to the original card set in the base game. Something as simple as a health potion now feels like a premium item that they should be proud of because of the amazing art on the card.
This truly makes the game feel more like a collector’s edition than an expansion pack. The cards don’t match much of the game’s aesthetic; instead, they go for something a bit darker. This is ideal because it plays into the game’s dark fantasy vibes, which are told in the module. The expansion box’s character sheet further reflects this with its black and white art of skulls and its gothic text. It’s worth pointing out that they’re precisely the same as the base game and offer nothing new but art. But it further sells the point of the game being much more grim than some of its other official story beats.
Despite this, each quest presented in the expansion offers something a bit different, and it changes enough to keep everyone at the table engaged and makes it feel like the players are going deeper and deeper into something that’s increasingly dangerous, with bosses that’ll keep them guessing on how they should go about exploring the area.
The nice cherry on top of this is that players are often left with more questions than answers by the end of the story. Sure, it feels good to slay the big bad of the story, but it lays the foundation perfectly for whatever comes next. This can be done in another official expansion or as a homebrew story for players to enjoy the next time they play.
HeroQuest: Joe Manganiello’s Crypt of Perpetual Darkness Quest Pack Is a Collector’s Dream
This is only elevated by the tile that’s part of the box set. Without giving too many story beats away, one side of it is the bar the heroes all start in, while the other serves as the crypt where the final battle takes place. Even though the main mat has a lot to play around with, the tile gives the game that extra bit of life to help things stand out and tell a more immersive story. In addition to that, it’s also packed with smaller trap tokens that can be used to harm heroes whenever they carelessly enter a room.
Of course, a dark crypt is only as fun as the monster hiding inside. Thankfully, the expansion box also had that in mind. It’s packed with a new and improved dragon that allows Zargon players to terrorize their heroes with a new and improved dragon miniature. Nothing screams dark fantasy more than a dragon sitting on top of a pillar looking down at its prey. Although this part may not be necessary, the dragon also doubles as a nice painting project.
The Final Word
Although HeroQuest: Joe Manganiello’s The Crypt of Perpetual Darkness Quest Pack may be a bit smaller than some of the other expansions, its presentation makes up for it. If you’re someone like me who is relatively new to dungeon crawler tabletop games, this is an ideal expansion to help further your games because it doesn’t require much learning or introducing anything new. Foil full-art cards and a new mini help sell this as a premium item, giving it a leg up over other expansion packs.
MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
